Perinatal factors and the development of childhood asthma.

BACKGROUND

Perinatal factors are suspected to have a significant impact on the development of asthma; however, sufficiently powered studies have not been performed to investigate this issue.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether perinatal factors and other risk factors have an independent or combined effect on the development of asthma.

METHODS

This study involved 3,770 children (mean age 9.1 years, range 5.68-12.16 years; 51.9% boys) who were enrolled in the Elementary School Student Cohort (2009-2014) in Ulsan University Hospital (Ulsan, Korea). Subjects were divided into an asthma group (n = 514) and a non-asthma group (n = 3,256).

RESULTS

Multivariate analyses showed that early life (within first week) oxygen therapy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.864, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.156-3.004) and breastfeeding (aOR 0.763, 95% CI 0.606-0.960) were 2 significant perinatal factors influencing the development of asthma. Environmental tobacco smoke (aOR 1.634, 95% CI 1.298-2.058) and parental allergic disease (aOR 1.882, 95% CI 1.521-2.328) also were identified as risk factors. Using subgroup analyses, combined effects on asthma development were observed between perinatal factors (early life oxygen therapy and breastfeeding) and other risk factors (vicinity to major roadway [traffic-related air pollution], environmental tobacco smoke, parental allergic disease, and atopy).

CONCLUSION

Early life oxygen therapy and breastfeeding were identified as 2 important perinatal factors influencing the development of asthma. Furthermore, these factors showed combined effects with other risk factors (environmental tobacco smoke, traffic-related air pollution, parental allergic disease, and atopy) on the development of asthma.